"How did I know we would find you in a gutter?" Angel heard a voice say and looked up to see Spike and Drusilla standing in front of him. "Didn't even need a vision from a Seer to know, you always go back to the gutter. Learned it from Liam, didn't you? That piece of human waste spent his life in the gutter, a bitter disappointment to his father. Of course, the rest of the time he was either seducing, paying or just plain old raping any woman that caught his fancy, wasn't he?"
"Like the Slayer you stalked and seduced." Drusilla eyed him. "Or Edith Keeble, the woman whose body you allowed Drusilla to have."
"Angelus made you, Drusilla, not me." Angel muttered. "Crazy you might be, but you do know that."
"You're correct, Angelus made Drusilla after torturing and killing Edith and her family and raping her in the convent on the day she was to take her final vows. Said rape occuring on the alter where novitiates dedicated themselves to the Lord. But I am also correct, you, Angel allowed Drusilla to have the body she used to commit atrocities in, as you allowed Spike to commit atrocities with Willam Pratt's body. You have so much to answer for. Bring him, William, if you please."
"I'd be pleased to. You stink, Angel and I don't just mean the smell of rot and alcohol on you." Spike punched Angel, knocking him out "We'll introduce ourselves properly when you wake up." He hoisted the larger male onto his shoulder with ease. "On account of, I'm not Spike and she's not Drusilla. Lead the way, love."
William Pratt, with the strength of Heracles, followed Edith, the Seer he was bound to, away from the gutter Angel had been wallowing in. It was time for Angel to pay for his crimes.
Back at the Magic Box Willow and Tara were assimilating Cordelia's announcement. "You're pregnant?" Willow stared at Cordelia. "And you're claiming it's magical?"
"She's is pregnant, Willow and it is magical." Elder Xander informed her. "I don't need the word of the Oracles of the gods, who are the ones who informed her that she's pregnant and exactly when it happened, to know that. Both Elders and whitelighters can sense lifeforces, it's how we track our charges. I felt the conception occur. She has a second lifeforce in her womb, just as the Oracle told her."
"You can sense a lifeforce from the moment of conception?" Giles asked, fascinated.
"I didn't say that." Elder Xander answered. "I said I could sense the moment conception occured and that I can sense a second lifeforce inside Cordelia. Those are two different statements. Some believe that life begins at conception, some believe life begins when the heart forms and begins to beat and others believe life begins when the soul becomes a part of the body and others believe life begins when the baby takes its first breath away from its mother. When I say lifeforce, I mean sensing the beating heart and living mind of a charge, but I can also sense just a beating heart. Cordy's baby has a heart beat and conception only occured a couple of hours ago. I don't know how long she's going to be pregnant for but it's not going to be nine months. Baby Cordy's coming much faster than she should be and I have no idea why it's happening so fast."
"The demon baby pregnancy lastest about a day and I looked nine months pregnant." Cordelia offered, sinking down into a seat as her knees felt wobbly. "And disappeared within seconds of ugly daddy demon dying. He was magically sustaining the pregnancy. I didn't even have any stretch marks, thank the gods. Maybe something of the Magic lingered? But the Oracles' said their magical security systems were burning off any Magics on me and my memories are back, so I'm thinking that probably doesn't explain it."
"Tell me about the spell." Tara ordered, going straight to business, this affected her new brother since the spell apparently tied him to Cordelia somehow.
"Well it was triggered by hearing his new name, not the name I grew up knowing him as." Cordelia replied. "I very specifically stated his new name with each line of the spell. First I named him, by which I mean said Edward Alexander Giles, I name you. Each line started with his name. The second line was I summon you, the third was I call you to service. The fourth line was naming him Achilles and giving him Achilles' skill, ending with binding him to my protection. And I have no idea why I said it."
"A compulsion, to ensure it happened." Giles told her. "The Seer who made this happen, she couldn't coordinate with you, so she ensured a Magic way for you to do your part. Justifiable to her as this act is supposed to save your life and keep the fallen Power from ever using you."
"It's a formal summons." Tara told them. "Like an invitation you can't refuse, like say the Queen of England invites you to a party. Not showing up would be a massive insult. The invitation is specific to Xander, he can't hand it off to someone else, he's the one who has to show up to the metaphorical party. The third line informs you of why the invitation was issued, the Queen's giving you a job, a position and it's not something you can turn down. You're being granted a rank, a title and the skills to do the job and you're being required to use them to protect Cordelia. Whether the baby was intended as part of the Seer's plan, I don't know, but the closest analogy I can think of to what's been done, is that you've been given a Royal decree and you can't refuse it. Refusing a Royal decree used to be followed by an off with his head command."